Two-day CAP training workshop hosted by Fire Dept. and MDS concludes

SINT MAARTEN (GREAT BAY, (DCOMM) – The Meteorological Department of St. Maarten (MDS) in collaboration with the Fire Department, hosted a two-day Common Alert Protocol (CAP) JUMP START training which concluded on March 13.

Various government departments and agencies took part in the training which was sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), and falls within the plan of St. Maarten to establish a CAP for dissemination of information to the public.

CAP is an international standard format for emergency alerting and public warning. It is designed for ‘all-hazards,’ related to weather events, earthquakes, tsunami, volcanoes, public health, power outages, and many other emergencies.

CAP is also designed for ‘all-media’ including communications media ranging from sirens to cell phones, faxes, radio, television, and various digital communication networks based on the internet.

The CAP format enables simultaneous communication of alerts for any kind of emergency over many different alerting systems, thus increasing effectiveness while simplifying the alerting task.

The training that started on Monday took place at the Government Administration Building on Pond Island.